Victor is located at nearly 10,000 feet on the southwestern side of Pikes Peak, Victor, Colorado. The city sits on the side of Battle Mtn., offering a unique setting of 1890's gold mining structures and turn-of-the-century architecture, clean, cool air and plenty of sunshine.

Victor's modern-day treasures are the results of its rich gold rush history. Victor was platted in 1893. By that time it was already known as the City of Mines because the largest and richest gold mines of the Cripple Creek Mining District were located on Battle Mountain just above Victor. Today head frames of the Ajax, Strong and Independence give Victor its historic gold mining atmosphere.

The (haunted) Victor Hotel

Ghost Stories of the historic Victor Hotel!

From the Victor Hotel website:

The Victor Hotel is a beautiful four-story Victorian brick building that was built in 1899-1900 by the town’s founders, the Woods brothers. Originally the first floor of the building was the Citizen’s Bank of Victor. The second, third and fourth floors were offices, but later the fourth floor was converted into a hospital where operations such as an Aemergency appendectomy@ were performed as early as 1906.

In 1908 the building contained a grocery store and jewelry store as well as the bank. The bank failed during the depression and later there was a restaurant, soda fountain and various other businesses in its place. The 1960’s brought an end to activity at the Bank Building.

Over the next two decades, both neglect and lack of interest brought the building to a dilapidated state. The property was purchased in 1991 and renovations began. The Victor Hotel opened in August of 1992. Despite the beautiful new renovations there were some things that could not be changed with a hammer and nails or cleaned with a bucket of soapy water. That, of course, being the ghosts that walk our halls!

Our most famous ghost is Eddie, who lived in the Victor Hotel in Room 301 during the early part of the 1900’s. Eddie worked in the mines wearing his heavy, steel-toed work boots. One night Eddie got up in the wee hours of the morning and pressed the Bird Cage elevator button to go down. When the doors opened, Eddie got in, but there wasn't an elevator there. He fell to his death and was later laid out for viewing in his room. Today, our 106 year old Bird Cage elevator door’s open and close and at times the elevator goes up to third floor without anyone touching any buttons. The elevator never stops on second or fourth at these times, only third. Eddie is still trying to get the elevator up to third! Eddie is heard walking the halls at all hours of the night. Many times guests have been awakened by loud footsteps in the hall. Upon looking out the door, no one is there.

As one guest from Room 307 checked out, they told me that someone had been banging on the pipes outside their door all night long. Every time they looked out the door to see who was banging on the pipes, there was no one there. Room 307 is in the corner and there aren’t even pipes on those walls but they definitely heard clanking sounds. Another guest told me that she had laid down a plastic cup with an aspirin in it and later went back to take the aspirin. The cup had disappeared! She searched all over, even in the trash, but to no avail. The cup was gone! We always put four cups per bed in each room. This room had four when she checked in, but that fourth cup was never found.

Other guests have seen Charlie who wears a black hat, torn jeans and a plaid shirt. Charlie is a very friendly ghost who appears to be about 60 years old and seems to have a good sense of humor. During the Christmas season of 2003, a young woman was seen several times in the lobby late at night walking around, observing the decorations. She was seen on nights when absolutely no one was even checked into the hotel.

There are other apparitions, probably of people who died in the hospital. Many corpses were stored on the fourth floor for months during the winter as the ground was too frozen to dig a grave. These apparitions visit the rooms and appear to different people who stay here.

The Victor Hotel, with its quiet Victorian elegance during the daytime, certainly comes to life at night. Is it haunted? There are just too many stories to believe otherwise!

The History of the Victor Hotel

Founded in 1893, two years after Cripple Creek, Victor was located right at the foot of Battle Mountain. The founders, Frank and Harry Woods, named their town after Victor Adams, one of the area’s early homesteaders.

Early Victor looked exactly like a mining town should. It’s false-fronted pine buildings faced on dirt streets and boardwalks. Housing was in great demand. Men paid up to a dollar a night to sleep on a pool table or on the floor in the back of the saloon. At meal time, long lines of hungry men formed in front of the towns eating houses. Water sold for five cents a bucket from horse drawn tank wagons. There were only two or three bathtubs in town.

By 1894, in addition to being the District’s mining center, Victor also became its rail center.

By 1896, with a population of 8,000 Victor was well on its way to becoming one of Colorado’s leading cities. Victor was called the City of Mines and as a mining town, it had few rivals. Even Cripple Creek was jealous of the tremendous output of Victor’s gold mines.

The First National Bank of Victor is probably the only banking concern in the world where one of its depositors mined directly beneath the bank at five hundred feet from the surface; from Gold Fields of Cripple Creek, Woods Investment Company promotional literature, 1901.

The previous passage describes the Victor Hotel as it existed around the turn of the last century. Built of brick and stone, 1899-1900, this four-story structure was once considered the most modern edifice in the Cripple Creek District. Not only was it the home of the Woods First National Bank, but it contained the offices of some of the most prominent men and businesses in Victor. Among this list were the offices of Dean Merrill Bodwell, J.W. Huff, J.E. Ferguson, Davis and Byler and H.G. Thomas, physician and father of Lowell Thomas. There were also the businesses of the Colorado Telephone Company, the Western Union Telegraph Company and H.H. Rosser.

After the Woods fell from power, A.E. Carlton bought the Bank Building, establishing his City Bank on the first floor. The second and third floors remained offices, but the fourth floor was converted unto a hospital, where operations, such as an emergency appendectomy, were performed as early as 1906.

In 1908, the building contained both a grocery and jewelry store as well as the City Bank. The City Bank failed during the depression.

In the 1930s, the bottom floor consisted of the Brass Rail Café and Bar, Bill Lehrs photography studio, and the lobby area contained Barretts furniture. Activity ceased during the Second World War.

In the mid 1950s and early 1960s there were various operations including a restaurant, Henry Munsteds gift shop and Reindels soda fountain. The 1960s brought an end to activity at the Bank Building.

Over the next two decades, both neglect and lack of interest brought the building to a dilapidated state. The property was purchased in October of 1991, by the Victor Hotel Limited Liability Company with Ivan S. Parr, of Conifer, Colorado as Manager.

The renovation process was begun that same month under the supervision of Marjoe D. Bandimere of Arvada, Colorado. The demolition phase was finally completed by spring of 1992. This phase was made even more difficult since it was undertaken during especially harsh winter conditions (at times the workmen’s sandwiches and coffee would freeze).

The reconstruction phase began in mid-March and was finalized in August of 1992. The overall goal was to completely rebuild the hotel and restaurant in accordance with current building regulations and requirements while retaining as much of the historic elements as possible. The original Bird Cage elevator was retrofitted, the original woodwork was stripped and reused, and the original steam radiators were painted and replaced complete with individual thermostat controls. The final objective was to provide clean, comfortable and affordable lodging and dining within a nationally registered building. Thus, the beautiful Victorian furnishings and appointments add to the authenticity of the period.